The present invention relates generally to electronic systems for facilitating point-of-sale retail transactions and, more particularly, to a computer based shopping system which uses a wireless ID card or tag and a videograph of an identified customer to provide customer recognition information to in-store terminals
Contemporary retail stores compete fiercely to establish and maintain the store loyalty of their present customers and to attract new customers to their stores by offering various degrees of personalized service which is adapted to meet the particular expectations and needs of each member of a highly diversified clientele. Establishing personalized service, matched to a particularized customer base, particularly in large department stores, requires the taking and maintaining of large amounts of data and the processing of such data so as to compile a shopping profile of each customer.
Most modern retail stores implement some form of computerization or electronic technology in their operations. This typically consists of using point-of-sale (POS) systems for automating checkout procedures and for assisting sales personnel to improve the efficiency of one-to-one merchandising and customer assistance. POS systems generally include one or more automated check-out terminals which are capable of sensing and interpreting a Universal Product Code (UPC) which is printed or tagged on each item of merchandise to be purchased. Conventionally, a POS terminal, a kiosk terminal or a sales person""s hand-held terminal is coupled to a computer system which recognizes and processes the UPC information. The database, accessible by the computer system, includes a list of merchandise items stocked by the store, a UPC for each of these items, and various types of merchandise identification information, including pricing, inventory, style, color, etc., associated with each UPC. When a customer is ready to make a purchase, a store clerk might use an automated POS terminal to read the UPC markings on each of the customer""s selections. The computer interprets the UPC, accesses the database to determine the price for each item and maintains a running total of the purchase price.
Many stores also use computerized systems to convey pricing and other information about its merchandise to its customers and to acquire information about the kinds of merchandise purchased by a customer. Frequencies of purchase, the effect of advertising and in-store promotional activities, and other indicia of a customer""s shopping habits. A retail store might use this information in order to control the costs of providing personalized services and products to its customers and to provide increased convenience and flexibility to the shopping experience.
Use of customer transaction information additionally might allow a retail store to establish and maintain a shopping history record of purchases by particular customers so as to award loyalty or incentive points to a customer based on the amount and frequency of their transactions. For example, a threshold number of loyalty or incentive points might qualify a customer for participation in a discount program or some similar promotion, in a manner similar to airlines awarding frequent-flyer mileage points for repeat customers. To improve the efficiency of a store""s one-to-one marketing efforts, a retailer often issues a xe2x80x9cloyaltyxe2x80x9d card (customer ID card) to customers which are then requested to present that card during each shopping visit to the retailer.
However acquired, and however used, customer data is conventionally captured during purchase transactions at one or more of a retail store""s POS terminals. The data might be transferred to a store platform computer system where it is processed and appended to a particular customer""s shopping transaction history. Incentive or loyalty points might be awarded based on the total dollar volume of the transaction. Coupon codes might be analyzed for applicability and the purchase of promotional items might be analyzed to determine the effectiveness of recent advertising. An updated transaction record, including any loyalty or incentive point award, is provided to the POS terminal for immediate applicability to a customer""s purchases.
However, electronic shopping systems based on customer ID cards or data cards are most often configured such that the card is presented at a check out terminal in order to record the transaction and allocate any discounts or loyalty or incentive points to the appropriate customer. Accordingly, customer ID or data cards are only used to enhance the efficiency of a retail transaction after a customer has already selected which items they might wish to buy and has already made the purchase decision. Any customer loyalty or incentive system established by the retailer is only able to recognize a particular customer ID card at the checkout counter and could only contain information about items already considered for purchase.
Because of this inherent disadvantageous feature of contemporary ID or data card based electronic shopping systems, store clerks are not able to provide efficient shopping advice and personalized shopping assistance to customers because the store clerks do not have ready access to a particular customer""s transaction history until that customer presents their ID card at a checkout terminal. In order to provide shopping advice and personalized assistance, a store clerk must remember a customer""s face and be able to recall that customer""s merchandise preferences and some indication of recently purchased items.
In the case of large dollar volume purchasers (VIP customers) a retail store manager might want to personally assist that customer and host the customer""s store visit from initially greeting the customer as they enter the store to facilitating their purchase transactions when they are ready to leave. However, it is very difficult to greet such a customer when they arrive at the store in the absence of any advance notice. It is also very difficult to locate such a customer within a store, particularly when the store is very large and has a multiplicity of floors and departments.
Many specialty retail stores attempt to resolve the difficult problem of identifying VIP customers at their time of arrival by stationing specially trained xe2x80x9cgreetersxe2x80x9d at each of the entrances to the stores. Greeters are familiarized with various customers"" faces and are able to alert management when a recognized VIP customer enters the store. A store or department manager might then choose to personally assist the VIP customer or, alternatively, introduce the customer to a particularly effective member of the sales force for further personalized service. This type of customer recognition approach, however, is extremely labor intensive and also rather inefficient. Customers can easily be overlooked during a busy period or might be overlooked by a temporary mental lapse on the part of a greeter.
Some retail stores have established an alternative method for recognizing the presence of certain customer types within a facility by establishing wireless customer ID interrogator units at various locations throughout the facility. As a particular customer enters the radiation field established by an interrogator unit, the interrogator unit is able to identify the customer by accessing the customer""s ID card. The customer ID is then transmitted to a store platform computer, for example where it is matched to a customer information entry in a customer database. The customer information might then be analyzed with respect to various threshold indicia, such as the number of loyalty or incentive points accrued to that customer, the customer""s transaction frequency and the dollar volume of the customer""s purchases. VIP customers can thus be identified as having entered the store and can also be identified as they move from department-to-department within the store.
Even though customer ID card and interrogator systems provide some degree of information to a retail store""s workforce about the presence of a desirable customer within the store, such customers can only be located if they are within the interrogation field of an interrogator unit. Conventionally, these interrogator units are only found at store entrances and at a few additional strategic locations within the store. The coverage of such systems is therefore rather sparse. Additional interrogator systems might be added, but at a significantly increased cost. Regardless of the number of interrogator units disposed throughout a store, there still exists the problem of the store""s workforce being unable to recognize a particular customer even though the sales force has been alerted that a customer is in the vicinity. If three or four people are all in the vicinity of an interrogator unit, the sales force must be able to recognize which of those people is the customer in question.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an electronic computerized system that is able to collect and store customer recognition information in real-time and make that information available to a retail store""s sales force, such that a store clerk is able to identify customers by sight and obtain customer profile and shopping preference information such that they are able to provide appropriate shopping assistance to that customer. Such a system should be able to determine when customers enter a store and also when they leave. It should be configured such that customer recognition and information data is easily accessible to a salespersons"" in-store terminal so that recognition and transaction information may be readily read therefrom.
These and other objects are accomplished in accordance with the present invention by an electronic shopping system which allows a commercial establishment""s staff to obtain visual image data of particular customers at the time each customer enters the establishment. Customer recognition is accomplished by issuing each customer with an identification card (a customer ID) which identifies that customer as belonging to a particular commercial establishment""s regular customer base The cards are issued by the commercial establishment and customers are requested to carry the card with them when they patronize that establishment. Customer ID card is made unique to each customer through the use of a customer ID number. As a customer enters a particular commercial establishment, the system according to the invention interrogates the customer ID card and accesses the customer ID number contained therein. At the same time, a videographic image is taken of the customer as they enter the establishment.
The customer ID number identifies and corresponds to a customer data record contained in a database hosted in an establishment""s network server or host platform computer. The customer record includes the customer name and related customer information, such as the customer""s transactional history, personal profile information including purchase preferences, an accumulated loyalty or incentive point total, and the like. The related customer information is retrieved from the database using the customer ID as an identification key. The customer""s name, related customer information and the customer""s videographic image are bundled into a customer record and transmitted for display to in-store terminals in order that the establishment""s staff is able to identify each customer by their photograph, without the customer having to announce themselves or otherwise affirmatively advertise their presence.
In one aspect of the invention, the customer ID card is a wireless ID card or ID tag that comprises a memory store which includes at least a customer ID and may include related customer information such as the customer""s name, transactional history information, profile information, and accumulated loyalty or incentive point totals. The commercial establishment includes entrance gates provided with RF antenna and transceiver systems that are able to interrogate a customer ID card and, if valid, receive the customer ID and additional customer information contained therein. In response to receipt of a valid customer ID, each entrance gate further includes a videographic image collection means, such as a video camera, which captures videographic image of a customer as they enter the establishment. Customer data is bundled together with the customer videographic image and is further transmitted to in-store terminals coupled in a network configuration.
In an additional aspect of the present invention, the customer ID card might be a contact-type IC card, a magnetic stripe card, barcode card, barcode tag, wireless tag or a wireless card. The customer presents the ID card at a check-in kiosk terminal prior to beginning a shopping excursion. The kiosk terminal includes videographic image recording means, such as a video camera, which captures a current videographic image of the customer. Customer profile information, preference data, transactional history information, and the like, is acquired either from the customer ID card or, alternatively, from a database of such information maintained by the commercial establishment. Each customer""s customer related information is bundled together with their current videographic image into a customer data record. A customer data record is then forwarded to in-store terminals so that the establishment""s staff is able to recognize and identify a customer as they enter the establishment without the need for the customer to otherwise affirmatively announce their presence.
In an additional aspect of the present invention, a particular customer data record includes a set of historical visual images along with the customer""s transactional history, personal preferences, etc. In the case where the customer cannot be recognized or identified from the videographic image taken by the camera during their entrance into an establishment, a substitute videographic image is accessed from the image store and substituted into the customer""s data record in each in-store terminal. In this manner, a customer may still be recognized and identified, even if their face, features, clothing, and the like, were obscured for any reason while they entered the establishment. Comparison of a current customer videographic image to that customer""s videographic image when their customer ID card was issued also functions to promote card security. An unauthorized user of a particular customer""s ID card can be readily identified by merely comparing the original videographic image to the face and features of the person presenting the ID card.
When a customer carrying a valid customer ID card leaves the establishment, the system according to the invention senses their exit, interrogates the ID card, receives the customer identification number and causes the in-store terminals to delete that customer""s record from temporary storage. Thus, only records of customers, carrying a valid customer ID card, that are actually in the establishment, are maintained in temporary storage on each of the in-store terminals. Valuable memory storage space is thus conserved as well as the need for an establishment""s staff to maintain an awareness of the presence of the large number of potentially important customers.
In addition to promoting customer recognition and identification, the customer ID card is further useful in assisting each customer in making purchase transactions. The customer ID card is advantageously used in connection with a customer assistance or kiosk terminal which is able to develop and display various personalized assistance recommendations based on an analysis of demographic information, transaction history, and customer profile data read from the customer""s ID card, or combination of an ID card and customer data maintained in a database in a store server or host computer. Additionally, each customer""s shopping history and personal profile data is processed by an establishment""s in-store terminals to thereby develop promotional item recommendations based on a customer""s most recent transactions, and to make recommendations for particular co-ordinated items that might match an item recently purchased. In addition, based on each customer""s data record, the commercial establishment is able to determine that a particular customer has not made any purchases of items falling within particular categories and is therefore able to generate one-on-one marketing programs specifically directed to that customer in order to remedy the deficiency.